Friday, September 10, 2010

Showbiz Tonight Just Can't Believe Some Actors Are "Openly Gay in Real Life"

Check out this interesting little piece from Showbiz Tonight. It highlights the fact that three primetime shows currently feature gay characters: Glee, Gossip Girl, and Modern Family. And of course, in an attempt to be balanced, there's the token anti-gay nutcase from some church disguised as a cultural center, family institute, or what have you. But what's maybe even more interesting is that the host of the segment just has to emphasize that some of these characters are "openly gay in real life!"

Perhaps it's time to reignite my crusade to abolish the term "openly gay." Someone is either gay or they're not, and they're either out or they're not. So if it's ok to talk about it because they're out, why not just say they're gay? "Openly gay" seems so much more harmful by reinforcing the idea that it's something you should be hiding. And that's exactly, by the way, what so many religions and ignorant heteros want. If we're going to further the argument that sexual orientation is an innate characteristic vs. a choice you can suppress, let's start putting more pressure on the media to do away with this harmful language.